Diego Velazquez

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Velázquez

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Velázquez “Court Painter” ∞An Art Conversation-Taster∞

Antoinette James 1

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Velázquez

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Diego Velázquez ------------------ Over View -----------------www.antoinettejames.com Youtube supporting notes Diego Velázquez, a lesser-noble, was born in Seville 1599 and became court painter to King Phelipe IV of Spain, during Spain's declining years; yet a golden age for Spanish art.

At twelve he was apprenticed to Francisco Pacheco. At seventeen he was accepted as prestigious and highest class of painter maestro pintor de ymagineria (master painter of religious images). A year later, at 18, he married his master's daughter Juana, herself not yet sixteen. In 1623, at age 24, Diego was commanded to The Alcázar in Madrid, to take up the position of court painter, having won notoriety with his portrait of the poet Luis Góngora.

Once at the palace, Diego’s fresh, so called anti-Catholic Baroque style, infuriated older renaissance artists who moved to discredit him. Phelipe, being so enraged on

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hearing the gossip, insisted on a competition to silence his good friend’s critics.

Diego easily won, with his rendition of The Expulsion of the Moriscos, consequently destroyed in a fire in 1734.

Diego's personal fascination for the heart and soul of man brought a growing truth to his brush. In 1629 Diego with his slave/apprentice Juan Pareja, made the first of three trips to Italy. While there, Diego's Bodegones style ('tavern' or 'low eating house') underpinning his

work submitted to Italian

influences, softening its coarseness. Titian's influence saw a lighter touch and a broader brush while minimizing his compositions, losing allegory.

Rubens stated him, the greatest European artist, while Phelipe would have no other paint his royal household.

Velázquez's art changed every slowly in technique over his life time. Some would say it reflected the man's solid and dependable dignity. From Old Woman Frying Eggs to later works such as The Rokeby Venus the shifts and techniques are subtle but observable.

Diego's trademark - character filled faces.

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Velázquez

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In many of Velázquez works, the observer can notice portraitures of his family and indeed himself. Such as Adoration of the Maji. The sitter for Mary was his wife, baby Jesus his daughter, his father-in-law and himself, Maji.

St John is another self-portrait in Velázquez’s painting St John of the Island of Patmos.

Velázquez has many famous works. Las Meninas, mysterious in technique; Pope Innocent X, painfully truthful; The Rokeby Venus, the most provocative; and Bacchus and His Companions, perhaps the most innovative.

Diego died in 1660 extensively unknown outside Spain; yet today stands supreme beside his European contemporaries.

Antonio Palomino, an eighteenth-Century historian published a biography on Velázquez's in 1724, giving us further insight into his life and works.

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------------------ Artist's Gallery Sample -----------------Bacchus and His Companions 1628-29 Prado, Madrid Diego incorporated a bodegones style, clearly departing from the classical portrayal of the Renaissance wine god as fat self-indulged enticer, instead,

reflecting

a

more

down to earth naturalism of life in seventeenth Century Spain.

Bacchus,

draped

in

renaissance classical attire, sits harmoniously with his coarsely dressed companions, making the viewers eye near oblivious to the blend. So convincing, was the depth that there was little need to embellish the work with props.

Diego, in a sense dethroned this deity with such a common touch, giving voice to his critics.

Bacchus’ companions’ peasant demeanor and dress look out from the canvas as if they too are surprised to be found in the company of a god!

Velazquez takes more liberties with this classical scene.

Bacchus crowns a commoner with a wreath!

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The Water Seller of Seville 1620 Wellington Museum, London Here we have perhaps Diego's finest example of bodegones. Typically, we see a common lower class domestic scene of Seventeen Century Spain.

This work was painted at the beginning of Velรกzquez career and shows the solid earthy feel at that time.

It is easy to see why his art work was so highly endorsed by Francisco Pacheco, the master painter Diego was apprenticed to, (and his father-in-law).

The clear genuineness of

Diego's

work

is

exhibited in the water running down the side of the larger jug and the believable lucid mass of the stemmed glass the two characters hold.

The Water Seller of Seville, was amongst the works looted from the Spanish Royal Collection by Joseph Bonaparte (Napoleon's brother). When the Duke of Wellington won the victory at the battle of Vittoria in 1813 the collection was presented back to Ferdinand VII of Spain. The very grateful king insisted the Duke keep them as thanks.

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The Surrender of Breda 1634-35 Prado, Madrid A merciful scene showing Mayor Count Justin of Nassau handing over the keys of Breda, 1625, to General Ambrogia Spinola, an Italian in the pay of Spain.

Interesting things to note is the young age of the General. Diego had spent some weeks aboard a galley on his way to Italy with the General. Perhaps a gesture of respect for Spinola, now dead. Note too, similarity in the Dutch faces to the left, and the man at the right-hand side behind the horse, painted in as an afterthought, is none other than Diego himself; though he never fought.

This painting was completed to adorn Palace Buen Retiro, celebrating victories of war under Phelipe reign. This painting, however, was a departure from the usually arrogant receipt of surrender. Here, the victor is not painted on higher ground, mounted on a robust war horse, while the defeated humbled themselves cowering lower. Here we see mercy and respect. Whether this was really the case is lost in time, but history does record uncharacteristic clemency in the terms of surrender.

X rays of this canvas show alterations suggesting Diego changed aspects; However, Diego was famous for painting over finished works. This painting is also known as The Lances due to the parade of them at the rear.

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Velázquez

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Las Meninas (The Maids of Honour) 1656 Prado, Madrid This is the painting that inspired my historical novel on the adult life of Diego Velázquez, Son of Spain www.antoinettejames.com Las Meninas is a painting the viewer immediately feels a part of. One can almost hear the cacophony of voices enjoying the warmth of fellowship.

Clearly,

all

feel

comfortable

conversing amidst the diverse goings-on that seem devoid of the formalism one might expect in audience with the royals.

Art connoisseurs are baffled by the intellect and perspicacity involved to produce such a piece. Lucas Giordano calls the work, "Theology of painting". Is this a celebration of art in action, or an experiment with mirrors? Is it historic or poetic?

Symbolism in art was rife. Mirrors spoke of prudence and wisdom; in this case accolade attributed to the royals. The obvious glow of light striking the mirror speaks of supreme divine like virtues.

Countless mathematical, architectural, theatrical and engineering experiments of the perspective of this composition have been carried out over the years; but still the mystery remains. Is Velázquez's gaze past the royal reaching beyond the borders of the canvas, the room and time – to the viewer?

Could he be engaged in painting the princess? Has she been brought into the room for her last sitting. Certainly, the canvas we see is too big. There is, however, a portrait of the princess in that same 8

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farthingale, though on careful inspection her hair is parted to the other side! If this is so, could there be a smaller canvas out of view from us?

Whatever we make of it, one thing is known; the characters in the painting were real people.

Velázquez holds his mahla, palette and charged brush. The mirror holds the reflection of King Phelipe IV of Spain, and his second wife and niece, Queen Mariana. In the center, their daughter, the feisty princess Margarita. She is attended by her maids Isabel de Velasco offering the princess a drink and Maria

Agustina

Sarmiento,

perhaps

curtsying,

acknowledging advise offered by the queen.

Two of the court dwarf are there, Nicolásico Pertusato, with his foot on the mastiff and beside him, the out-of-sorts Mari bola.

Behind Maria, in conversation is Dona Marcela de Ulloa and Diego Ruiz de Azona, the princesses guardadamas,

Don José Neito de Velázquez, the queen's quartermaster is seen departing the lively gathering.

In 1985, The Illustrated London news voted las Meninas ‘The world’s greatest painting’. Since art is personal and therefore subjective, the final say must rest with the individual viewer. Even so, this remains a spectacular painting on all accounts.

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-----------------Research and discussion Topics----------------People and events at this time in history *Black death *Christiaan Huygens *Oliver Cromwell *Edmund Waller *St Peter’s Square *Mount Vesuvius *Spanish Wars

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